All weather clothes line



June2, 1959 J. c. o'Nl-:ILL

ALL WEATHER CLOTHES LINE Filed Aug. l2, 195

INVENTOR Patented .lune 2, 1959 ice ALL WEATI-ER CLOTHES LINE llames C. ONeill, East Falmouth, Mass.

Application August 12, 1958, Serial No. 754,568

Claims. (Cl. 211-104) This invention relates to laundry apparatus and more particularly to a device for supporting clothes to dry.

lt is an object of the present invention to provide a compact indoor and outdoor clothes line which cian be readily installed upon any window frame for supporting clothes indoors or outdoors in a drying position, which assembly is extremely versatile and easy to use.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an all weather clothes line of the above type that includes a pair of extensible arms having a plurality of strands of clothes line threaded therebetween for supporting a large number of clothes in a small space.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an all weather clothes line bearing the above objects in mind which is of simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture and eiiicient in operation.

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a clothes line made in accordance 'with the present invention in operative use;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal cross sectional view of certain parts of the apparatus shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross sectional view taken along line 3 3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a plan view of the structure shown in Figure 2, with parts broken away.

Referring now more in detail to the dnawing, a clothes line assembly made in accordance with the present invention is shown to include a pair of substantially identical arm units 12, each of which includes a plurality of telescopically connected channels.

As is more clearly shown in Figures 2 to 4 of the drawing, each arm unit 12 includes a base exterior channel 13, a smaller terminal channel 17, and at least one intermediate channel 14. The intermediate channel 14 is telescopically supported within the exterior base channel 13 by means of longitudinally spaced apart ball members 15, while the interior channel 17 is supported for telescopic movement within the intermediate channel 14 by similar ball bearings 18. The exterior and interior channels 13, 17 are provided with inwardly extending webs or brackets 19, 20, each of which is provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart and pivotally mounted hooks 21, 22, for purposes hereinafter described.

Each arm unit 12 is pivotally secured to any stationary object, such as a window frame, by means of a hinge 24 that may `be fastened thereupon, such as by screws 25. As is clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawing, the hinge 24 allows upward rotation of the arm units about the hinge axis between the horizontal position and a vertical position, but prevents downward rotation of such arm units below the horizontal plane. This is possible since the entire rear end of the arm unit is in full face abutting relationship with the stationary frame member and can be rotated upwardly about the hinge axis at the top of the exterior channel 13, but cannot rotate in a downward direction.

The base end of each exterior channel 13 is further provided with a spool 27 that windingly supports a clothes line 28 which may be threaded back and forth between facing hooks 21, 22 of the telescopically supported channel and bracket members to provide any desired number of strands of clothes line upon which the wet clothes may be hung. Each such exterior base channel 13 is further provided with a rotatable spool 30 that windingly supports a flexible cable 31 that may be extended up wardly around guide elements 29 secured to the window frame above the level of the hinge 24 and thence downwardly and outwardly toward the outermost end of the interior channel 17 to which a hook eye 32y is secured. it will thus be recognized that the flexible cables 31 form trusses which assist in supporting the outer ends of the arm units. Of course, such iiexible cable 3l need only be applied as may be required, such as when extremely heavy wet clothes are supported upon the assembly. Otherwise, the aforementioned hinge connection and abutment of the exterior channel 13 with the window frame suices to support ordinary loads.

When not in use, all of the clothes line 28 and flexible cable 31 may be wound upon the respective spools and the |arms telescopically withdrawn into each other so that the unit presents a neat and attractive appearance, with very few elements of the assembly being visible. However, it becomes a simple matter to set up the assembly for use either indoors or outdoors, depending upon the particular mounting desired.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the `spirit and scope of the present invention as deined by the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. An all weather clothes line assembly comprising, in combination, a pair of telescoping arm units, means for hingedly `connecting one end of each of said telescoping arm units to a Window frame, means for supporting the opposite end of each of said telescoping arm units upon said frame, and bracket means supporting a plurality of strands` of clothes line transversely between said arm units.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein each of `said arm units comprises an exterior base arm, an interior terminal arm, and at least one intermediate arm slidably acting between said base and terminal arms.

3. The combination according to claim Z, further com prisiug ball bearing means acting between each one of said arms of each unit.

4. The combination according to claim 3, wherein said means for supporting the opposite end of each arm unit comprises a flexible cable, a spool carried by each one of said arm units windingly supporting said cable, and a hook eye carried at the outer end of said terminal arm, said cable being adapted to be trained over a guide on said window frame into supporting engagement with said hook eye.

5. The combination according to claim 4, wherein said bracket means comprises a plurality of hooks secured to each one of said arms, and a spool having a flexible clothes line rotatably supported upon said exterior arm for training the clothes line back and forth between said hooks of both arm units.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 611,503 Parker Sept. 27, 1898 1,015,076 Robert Ian. 16, 1912 1,338,266 Trach Apr. 27, 1920 1,493,284 Hennessy May 6, 1924 

